A question about water

FORMER Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad arrived in Johor Bahru a few days ago to speak to his supporters after staying quiet for a few months.


Besides directing his attack s at Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, he raised the water issue again, which had affected relations between Malaysia and Singapore.

He said Malaysia sold raw water to Singapore at only three sen per 1,000 gallons and, in turn, the Republic sold treated water to Johor at 30 sen per 1,000 gallons, making a high profit.

Johor is now self-sufficient in treated water with its own water plants, without having to depend on Singapore. Tun Dr Mahathir felt that Malaysia was in a more favorable position now in negotiations on water pricing because it was not afraid that Singapore would take advantage of it and ask for higher price for treated water sold to Johor if Malaysia raised the price of raw water.

Unfortunately, the water talks stopped after the scrapping of the bridge project.

Hence, the price of water Malaysia sells to Singapore stands at three sen.

Tun Dr Mahathir raised a question worth pondering: Who is smarter? Who is not smart enough?

Undoubtedly, he has succeeded in stirring up a “sense of patriotism” in the participants, but some of his arguments are open to question.

First, Tun Dr Mahathir did not tell us one fact: Singapore has “four water taps”, so the Republic may not compromise much on water prices. The four water taps refer to two traditional sources- local water catchments and water from Malaysia- as well as NeWater produced by a plant built in 2003 through reverse osmosis and desalinated water from a plant built in 2005 to meet the island’s goal of water self-sufficiency.

Need we ask, “Who is smarter?”

Second, treated water sold by the private water company to [Johor] costs seven times more than what Singapore sells to Johor. Water tariffs in the state have increased three times over the past three to four years, so much so that they are probably the highest in the country today.

The biggest irony is that Kluang and Batu Pahat experienced a shortage of water for a few months two years ago after the water-privatization project and water tariff hike.